The Journey
by Funnyguy123414
Summary: Quick ending to the Giver. Not based off of the other three books in the series.


All rights reserved to Lois Lowry.

Jonas felt the wind blowing on his face as he raced down the hill. He felt euphoric as the houses came closer and closer and the singing was getting louder. Then it ended. He woke up lying down in the snow and Gabriel was hunched over. He stood up slowly realizing Gabriel wasn't moving and he ran to him, throwing himself down. The nearby snow marks had indicated that Gabriel had been moving at some point. He covered Gabriel's body with snow and the blanket. Jonas still had the feeling that Elsewhere was near and he went on.

The snowing had stopped. Jonas felt the empty feeling of hunger in his stomach, the dryness in his throat, and the burning in his legs. It was a lot darker now, with the sun far below the horizon. His legs were numb and useless as he stumbled forward, desperate for sleep and warmth. Jonas was beginning to see a cave in the distance that was previously concealed by the white wind of snow and started moving towards it. When Jonas arrived at the cave, the only thing on his mind was sleep. He tried to sleep on the freezing, hard ground, but when his mind relaxed the tranquility was interrupted by his thoughts. How far away is Elsewhere? What happened to the town? How did the sled crash? Jonas also thought about how confused and scared Gabe must have been in his final moments. He could also hear the wind blowing and thought about how far he was from the community. But finally, his consciousness started drifting away into a light rest.

The sun was now up and Jonas had barely gotten any sleep. The starvation and exhaustion had been taking its toll on him. He was able to fully see his surroundings and could see that the walls were rough and went up into a ceiling that was like a giant dent. He was also able to see that some parts of the ground were sharp, jagged rocks and the parts like the one he slept on were flat with dirt on them. Jonas slowly stood up while groaning from stomach pains and headaches and walked to the entrance. When he reached the mouth of the cave, he was instantly blinded by the early morning sun, but after blinking excessively he could see. There was snow on the ground, he didn't like it but he bent down and scooped up a handful, and he shoved it in his mouth. Suddenly his vision faded and then he could see the community.

Jonas saw people crying, others throwing pills onto the ground and some were staring blankly into the sky. Then Jonas was back, standing in the snow. He stood there for a while just trying to make sense of what had happened. Jonas thought about how his most painful memories had to have ended up back there. He also thought about how the vision was even possible. Jonas knew he had to go on so he pushed the thoughts out of his head and trudged on.

A light snow started falling, but it only got worse. It became so thick that it was impairing his vision and movement. He was so cold his fingers felt like icicles and his face was burning from the frigid snow pelting him. He didn't even know what direction he was going in so he moved his feet forward until he ran into something. After what felt like ages, Jonas felt a change in the landscape. It was rougher and had more bumps. After walking a few steps, he noticed that it was now flat and slippery. Jonas then heard a small crack and ignorant of the implication, he paused but decided it was nothing and continued on. The further he walked the more frequent the cracks got but Jonas didn't notice them through the snow and wind. Suddenly the ice shattered, Jonas cut his arm on the ice and was submerged. His lungs were burning and he felt like his entire body was being poked with hundreds of small needles. He wasn't aware that had another vision until the pain stopped. Even then, he could barely concentrate through his weary mind. He saw smoke rising out of the community and people crossing the bridge. He watched a man get swept away by the river current while others tried to help until he was no longer visible. Jonas thought about the Giver, Mom, Dad, Lily, Asher and Fiona, and why he didn't recognize anyone in the vision. He remembered that he was underwater and came back to reality, he was slowly sinking to his death. Jonas knew there was no coming back from this and he let the void slowly engulf him as he made peace with all of his questions and put his mind to rest.


End file.
